The 'Currently Reading' Thread.

[Lorne Malvo]

I love reading. One of the great pleasures of my life over the past few years has been going to a coffee shop on a Saturday an hour or so before my film showing starts and just unwinding with a good book.

I started reading 'Carrie' again recently. I can give or take Stephen King for the most part - I find he's really good at writing characters and evoking a sense of time and place, but he's bad at pacing a story. Carrie has always been a bit of a comfort read for me though, strangely. 

I've been trying to alternate between reading more 'worthy' literary fiction and genre fiction, so after I'm done with Carrie I'll probably go for a Richard Yates or a Jonathan Franzen. I'm hoping to read more short story collections too, it's always been my favourite format but I've neglected it the past few years.

I tend to buy from independent bookshops and I love a carboot or a book fair (never Amazon) but I will admit that I quite like half hour in Waterstones.

[Tamura]

While in London at the weekend I popped in to Housmans, which I always try and do to kill some time while waiting for a train home from King's Cross. From their bargain basement picked up Buried In The Sky by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan, about the story of the Sherpas during the 2008 K2 disaster. Also reading Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of The Ashes in 12 Matches by Simon Hughes, which I picked up cheaply from a local charity shop. 

[Carbomb]

59 minutes ago, Tamura said:

While in London at the weekend I popped in to Housmans, which I always try and do to kill some time while waiting for a train home from King's Cross. From their bargain basement picked up Buried In The Sky by Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan, about the story of the Sherpas during the 2008 K2 disaster. Also reading Cricket's Greatest Rivalry: A History of The Ashes in 12 Matches by Simon Hughes, which I picked up cheaply from a local charity shop. 

Housmans are great, and it's brilliant that they're still going after all these years, especially in light of King's Cross' Eurotunnel terminal-driven gentrification.

They used to do a good line in old-style, crusty hippie vegetarian food. Dunno if they still do it.

[HarmonicGenerator]

4 hours ago, DCW said:

I use Chapters in Dublin, which probably isn't much use to you with brexit import fees and currency exchange and all that shite. I paid 4.99 for a very good 2nd hand copy of prophet song vs 17.99 for a brand new copy.  Definitely worth a wander around the shop if you ever find yerself with an hour or two to spare in Dublin. They've a lovely cafe and urban garden center too. 

https://chaptersbookstore.com/pages/about-us

I’m in the Dublin area for work in May so will definitely check this place out, thank you!

Add me to the list of people who love reading, and the list of people whose ‘to read’ lists are far, far too long. I keep making myself promise not to get new books until the list is smaller, and then I go into the indy bookshop round the corner from work and buy two like I did yesterday.

I think I’ve got four on the go at the moment. Samantha Shannon’s The Dark Mirror is the fifth in one of her fantasy series, and it’s probably sold as YA or romantasy or one of those words. Not normally my kind of thing but I interviewed her for a podcast when the last one came out and she was lovely and her writing style and world building are great so I’m an all in dedicated fan.

The recent SNL documentary series got me wanting to start Live From New York, the big oral history of the show. I always like to have a history book on the go, and at the moment it’s The Popes by John Julius Norwich. There’ve been hundreds of popes, I bet quite a few of them were interesting, and I’ve barely heard of any of them, so I’m hoping this fills in some gaps. 

Then lastly, A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles because I liked the Ewan McGregor show, and my wife has read the book and said it was better.

There are too many books and not enough time! I enjoy buying them for other people just as much as getting them for myself, which definitely helps scratch the itch. We’ve got a Toppings in Edinburgh and they’re always great to browse around.

[Chris B]

3 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

The recent SNL documentary series got me wanting to start Live From New York, the big oral history of the show.

I really liked that one. Flew by as a read too.

[HarmonicGenerator]

6 hours ago, Onyx2 said:

We lost Terry Pratchett ten years ago today. And I do mean lost.

GNU Sir Terry.

Meant to reply to this one as well. I finished a reread of all the Discworlds last year. He’s still my favourite writer, without question.

The Pratchett estate posted this today.

“A message from Rob Wilkins:

Shortly before he died, Terry Pratchett assured me that, if there is an afterlife, he would give me a ring and let me know. That was ten years ago - and still no call. 
 
From which, incidentally, I draw no firm conclusions. What if there was an afterlife, but with no phone signal? 
 
But of course there is one place where Terry indisputably lives on: in the pages of his books and in the minds of the millions of readers around the world who turn those pages and continue to find them funny and true. 
 
For, while his words live on, so does Terry, and that will be the case, no question, not just for this one decade so quickly gone, but for many further decades to come. 
 
So let me join Lyn and Rhianna in raising a glass today to the magical persistence of books and to Sir Terry; gone but still so very firmly with us.
 
Rob Wilkins“

[Carbomb]

I've still not read Raising Steam or Making Money yet. Still taking my time to read them for the first time. My sadness at one day having finally read all of them for the first time has been put off slightly, though: I just recently bought a copy of A Stroke of the Pen, his previously-unreleased stuff.

[Chest Rockwell]

6 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

: I just recently bought a copy of A Stroke of the Pen, his previously-unreleased stuff.

They were previously published in newspapers btw. All the unpublished stuff was crushed by a steamroller.

[HarmonicGenerator]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I've still not read Raising Steam or Making Money yet. Still taking my time to read them for the first time. My sadness at one day having finally read all of them for the first time has been put off slightly, though: I just recently bought a copy of A Stroke of the Pen, his previously-unreleased stuff.

I enjoyed those two a lot more on a reread - I got a lot more out of it in my 30s than I did when they first came out. Making Money particularly was a pleasant surprise - probably my favourite of that sub-series.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

1 hour ago, Carbomb said:

I've still not read Raising Steam or Making Money yet. Still taking my time to read them for the first time. My sadness at one day having finally read all of them for the first time has been put off slightly, though: I just recently bought a copy of A Stroke of the Pen, his previously-unreleased stuff.

Same reason I haven't read David Gemmells crime novels. 

On that note, this year I have re-read his entire works (other than mentioned above). 

Currently I have restarted the Dune series, even with the prequels. And I have Empire, by Anthony Riches also on the go.

 

Edit: and the Ciaphas Cain books from Warhammer40k. They are on my phone, so convienece for me.

Edited March 12, 2025 by ReturnOfTheMack

[BomberPat]

Pratchett was the first author I really loved, and first really understand as an author, rather than just having that sense as a kid that media and art just sort of exists - you know that someone must have created it, but you don't really get what that means. He's the first I remember really being aware of as the bloke who was writing the books, and the first author I remember going out of my way to keep reading more and more of. 

I don't think I have read anything beyond Monstrous Regiment, though. Maybe I read Going Postal, but I don't remember. Everything that came after that kind of came along at a time when I was, I don't want to say growing out of his books, but my tastes were moving and changing, and his stuff wasn't what I was looking for any more. I've re-read a couple of the older books in the last year, and keep thinking I should read the later books, but I keep putting it off. 

I've not read Nation, Dodger, or any of the Long Earth series either. 

[Carbomb]

Going Postal is excellent. I've gone over the bibliography, and realised I've mis-counted: there are a few more that I've not read, like The Last Hero, I Shall Wear Midnight, or The Shepherd's Crown - mainly because I'm saving them for after I've read Snuff, because I've had quite a few people tell me it's not good. 

[Chest Rockwell]

I liked Snuff. I'm a sucker for anything Vimes-heavy though. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

Snuff was decent, it’s mid-table in my overall rankings, does a lot of set-up work with goblins that pays off in Raising Steam. Of the later ones, Thud is by far my favourite, as mentioned earlier I liked Making Money a lot on re-reading, and The Shepherd’s Crown would rank quite highly, mainly for an event in one of the early chapters that is monumental and just makes me cry. I was a wreck reading that one for the first time.

Actually, looking at my list, most of my top 5 would be from the ‘second half’ of the books (#20 and later).

Edited March 13, 2025 by HarmonicGenerator

[Just Some Guy]

My favourite author Jasper Fforde is closing out his Thursday Next series this year, so I'm on a marathon read of the previous 7 books.

I get the feeling that the wider UKFF may hate his stuff.